Cite: http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3612454

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CONSECRATION OF BISHOP

. P'ÏRE'TCH.

STRIKING SERMON BY THE BISHOP

OF BALLARAT.

(«Prom the Melbourne " Argus" of

Saturday.)

Yesterday morning, ar St. Paul's Cathe-

dral, the 30lemn ceremony was performed of cons*ecrating the Rev. J. F. Stretch, Dean of Ballarat, as coadjutor Bishop of Brisbane ; and the Venerable Arch- deacon 'Cooper as sufCragen Bishop . of Ballarat. Al half-past iO o'clock the service commenced in the presence of a crowded congregation, when the clergy of .the dioceso of Ballarat and Melbourne, the officials of the cathedral, and the .Bishops of Goulburn, Brisbane, Ballarat, Melbourne, and Sydney walked in pro- cession up the aisle to their places in the chancel. The Bishop of Syiiney per-, formed tho consecration ceremony, and the musical pot don of the service was carried out under the direction of Mr. R. J. Shanks, the deputy organist, who presided at the organ in the unavoidable absence through illness of the regular

organist.

The Bishop of Brisbane preached the consecration sermon, taking as his text II. Corinthians, i., 21. 22-" He that stabllsheth us with you unto Christ, and bath anpointed us, is God ; who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit In our hearts." In the course of his address ho said :-To-day wo keep the festival of All Saints, and follow a time-honoured custom In doing so, nearly thirteen centuries having- elapsed since tho opening day of November was thus observed for the first time. On that occasion, an with us to-day, there was a consecration-but not of Bishops. "It Was a building that was consecrated, and it is instructive to recall what build- ing-the Pantheon or Temple of all Gods at Rome, still to be seen there, and a place of extraordinary interest, not merely from its unique architecture or even from its antiquity and historical connection, bulk as it was to commemd rate the mighty victory at Actium, which ended the greatest republic and ushered in.the greatest empire of the world, but also because the transformation into a church through grant from the Emperor of what was almost the sole remaining monument of heathen worship in Rome wonderfully symbolised the completion of a far mightier victory-that of the faith of Jesus over Roman paganism. On flint spot, six centuries before, tlie re- public had bowed before the empire ; On that spot the empire should do homage to the Christ. Plainly, the Christian faith had come to dominate civilised Europe if the very sanctuary where persecuting Rome once grouped nil her fnlse deities round the altar of Jupiter, the avenger, is dedicated afresh in reverential memory of all the martyrs that she sfew to the honour of Jesus the Redeemer.Western Christendom then, not inappro- priately, marked down the anniversary of that significant consecration for all the after-timens " All Saints' Day," and now we this year have marked down All Saints' Day for another significant con- secration, that of two " godly and well learned men," in full accordance with every essential requirement of Catholic Church order, to be Bishops of the Church of God. I have called their consecration, significant, and so it is for many reasons, but I have only time to touch on three. First, It means that after all these cen- turies we of the ancient historic Church of,,-England adhere firmly to the trans- mit ted episcopate as " the organ of thC' 'Cb wren's rule, the pledge of her con- tinuity, and the symbol of her oneness." You will desire at my band no con- troversial discussion of that subject this calm and hallowed morning, but the oc- casion seems fitting briefly to recite cer- tain conclusions reached upon it by perhaps the most learned and weighty theologian of our time in language setting forth the Church of England standpoint more representatively than any words that Ï could frame. Says the lamented Bishop Lightfoot in the later edition of his "Essay on the Christian Ministry,'' issued 1S0S :-" It seems vain to deny that early In the second century the c-plscopal office was firmly and widely established, and conseque>ntly during the lifetime of the latest apostle this must

have been brought about ... In- cluding the Bishops of our communion in tlie United States, seventy-eight in number, we have an Anglican episcopate 'of 243 Bishops as against but twenty-six 100 years ago. Roundly, it has multi plica tenfold. Well might Mr. Glad- stone, a strong worker in this cause, speak at a public meeting of the re- markable success'with which God baa blessed the efforts made for the expansion of the Church on the primitive principles of apostolic order artd discipline, and go on to point out the extraordinary re- sults which have folowed for the colonial episcopate. . . ." With this seal mark deep and clear upon you both, go forth ,you freshly-consecrated Bishops. Oh, it

is for awful responsibilities assumed this morning that you must one day give in your account Ajid how soon and sud- denly that day may come, let that muffled bell remind you that will be telling all Victoria an hour hence that what now remains to us of Sir James Patterson, one of her bravest, most gifted, and most distinguished public men, ia being borne so unexpectedly straight from the rush and bustle of the fulness of busy life to the grassy rift where with tearful reve- rence and aching hearts a host of those who admired and loved this man shall lay his dust to rest.

Tho service then closed,

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